This overlooked Pirates power prospect deserves more recognition

Most devoted Pirates fans are familiar with prospects like Bubba Chandler and Termarr Johnson, but can they say the same for Esmerlyn Valdez? Leading the Florida State League this season with 22 home runs, including several multi-home run games, the 20-year-old Dominican slugger deserves to be talked about in the same light.

Valdez is not listed as one of the team's top prospects on MLB.com, FanGraphs or Baseball America. This year for Bradenton, he played at first, in both corner outfield positions, and logged some games as the team's designated hitter.

Valdez made his debut as a professional for the Pirates organization in 2017 in the Dominican Summer League, playing for the Pirates Gold team at age 17. In 2022, he moved up to rookie ball in the Florida Complex League. After hitting .312 with an OPS of .895 in 40 games the following season, he was promoted to Single-A Bradenton. That offseason, he played winter ball in Colombia and became a regular in the Marauders lineup in 2024. In 104 games, he hit 22 home runs, as mentioned earlier, with 61 RBI and an .815 OPS. While his batting average was low at .226, he was still one of the best hitters in the FSL this year. Other notable prospects at this level included Max Clark, Arjun Nimmala, Chen-Wei Lin and Juan Salas.

Prospect Esmerlyn Valdez held his own in full-season at Florida State League

Given that the Pirates prospect depth is heavy with pitching, it's honestly a bit surprising someone like Valdez has gone under the radar like he has. There aren't many other noteworthy power hitters in the system, beyond names like Jack Brannigan, Matt Gorski, and Nick Cimillo, who hit 21 home runs between Greensboro and Altoona this year.

Valdez is exactly the kind of player the Pirates could use right now. Depending on how aggressive the club is, and whether he continues to play well enough to earn promotions, we could see Valdez in Pittsburgh by the end of 2026, or perhaps even sooner. While this might seem unrealistic, it's not uncommon for a player to go off in the minors and quickly become a valuable member of the major league team. James Wood with the Nationals is a recent example of this thinking paying off.

By the time Valdez makes it to the big leagues, the Pirates will likely have an opening at first and in the outfield, unless they sign or trade for a sure thing, which probably won't happen. While a number of pitching prospects will be fun to watch next year, not to mention the debut of Konnor Griffin, don't forget about Esmerlyn Valdez. We might get to see him in Altoona next year, which would mark substantial progress for him, the coaching staff, and the player development program.